The last part of the training regimen was dodging. Darts were thrown at him at various speeds and angles. He must use his divine sense to track the large number of projectiles thrown at him and weave through the danger. While the divine sense is powerful, it is not omnipotent. Objects don’t become instantly identified as soon as they enter the range of the divine sense, that’s even if you know the object. Information is first collected and verified before identification is made. This takes time and mental effort in terms of processing power which you have to perform while avoiding objects thrown at you.
A path of safety within the cacophony of attacks must be created by identifying danger, plotting their paths, and deriving escape routes. His powerful mind and perception made all of it a walk in a park such that he completed the challenge on his first try.
“What’s next?” He slapped his hands against each other in anticipation.
The dodging and perception regimen of his training ended with that and so he moved on to the fourth regimen. Some of the training exercises were easy and some were difficult, but all of it was a new experience.
He chose the blocking and parrying challenge as it was next on the agenda. The training room changed into a narrow tunnel and his enemy became a boulder.
The first challenge requires him to perform a single act, block the boulder. The boulder will start rolling from the other end of the tunnel and all he had to do is stop the boulder from crossing the finish line. He can only start from this finish line and was given a shield to use. He has to combine several techniques in order to block the boulder.
“Seems easy enough.” He said as he hefted the shield on his arm.
The first step is running forward to increase his momentum and reduce the distance between him and the boulder. Reducing the time between them will ensure that they come in contact much earlier and will also reduce the time the boulder has to accelerate and accumulate momentum. In other words, increase his own momentum while reducing the momentum of the boulder before even making contact. So he ran forward.
The next step is to crash into each other, and this is the most important part. The speed and acceleration of his movement will determine the impact of his opposition to the boulder. To maximize his momentum, he must apply force at an angle instead of directly opposite and push the boulder against the sides of the tunnel. The contact with the wall will create friction which will further slow down the boulder. This technique is called the battering ram.
The boulder can be stopped here if its mass and momentum are low enough. If the mass and momentum aren’t low, then the opposing force and momentum must be high enough. This was worked out at first because soverick’s acceleration and techniques are adequate but as the difficulty ramps up, the third step of the techniques has to be employed.
The third step involves engaging the boulder with short bursts of force. He had to slam his shield into the ball with all the force he can muster, create some distance between them and smash it again. Each smash will only be effective if he manages to offset the momentum in time for the boulder to stop before reaching the line.
The repetitive smashing is where the difficulty of the challenge lay. He has to coordinate most of the muscles of his legs, lower back, upper back, and arms to release all their strength in such a short amount of time and do it repeatedly. Up till now, he had learned how to move right, how to see right, and how to perceive things faster. Now he must learn muscle coordination also called the coiling dragon technique. It is the manipulation of the muscles in such a way that potential energy is accumulated only to be released in a single, quick burst of power.
He learned the technique easily because of the control he had over his body but he had never felt so wrung out since he began facing the challenges. Every fiber of his body was required to stop the boulder. There were some dormant muscles in his body that he didn’t know about their use in amplifying physical strength releases through exertion until now. Even muscles of his chest, jaws, and stomach answered the call to arms. And yet the boulder just kept getting heavier and heavier, it kept pushing him back as the difficulty increased.
It wasn’t until he realized that the coordination of the muscles must be done even before the first contact, only then could he fully take advantage of his initial collision. The first crash against the boulder now involved coiling the muscles of his body and amplifying that potential energy with his actual kinetic energy to create a force capable of rivaling the boulder in momentum.
It worked but he paid the price in serious muscle damage from the backlash. An action will cause an equal and opposite reaction. He would fail if his body couldn’t receive the reaction. So either his body becomes capable of withstanding the momentum of a boulder moving at high speed or he activates the fourth step of the technique.
Next came the fourth step of the technique, the striking viper. He was to harness the rebound force and use it to create another smash. Then harness the rebound force again and perform another smash. There is theoretically no limit to how many turns can be achieved, the actual number of times is dependent on the body and level of skill.
His skill level was not lacking it’s just that his body couldn’t handle the strain. The striking viper must be continued until he wins because the stress of harnessing the rebound will continue to mount up. He must win against the boulder and create an outlet for the stress to be released. In order words, he must push the boulder back, only then will the stress be transferred to it. If not, his body will break during the process which is not a pleasant thing at all.
Practice makes perfect and repetition is the mother of learning. After numerous rounds of back-breaking effort, his body adapted to it and he was finally able to push back the boulder with the highest difficulty. It took 2 weeks until he vanquished his biggest enemy, a boulder that he was sure was more than 100 times his body mass.
“I am actually sweating.” He said in disbelief as he lay on the ground. Then he began chuckling which escalated into laughter.
The euphoric feeling of overcoming a great hurdle washed over him and lifted his spirit. His body finally got the opportunity to relax and he let it. He just couldn’t fall asleep though, his mind was too powerful to be lulled into complete stillness. So he napped a little, he deserved it, but even that didn’t take more than 1 hour. His incredible vitality made his return to top shape quick.
“It’s time for the parrying challenge.”
For the parrying challenge, he had to cross a narrow hall while being assailed by rock projectiles. The hall is narrow so he can’t make large swings or elaborate body movements. He has to use the smallest movement possible to stop the projectiles with the stick in his hand.
As usual, it was easy at first until the projectiles became numerous and their impact against his stick became heavier. He couldn’t commit most of his force to a single projectile or the knockback will put him off balance and incapable of blocking the others. He had to use minimum movement with minimum force to knock the projectiles aside so that he would be capable of responding to other incoming threats.
The aim of the exercise is for him to make his way from one end of the hall to the other. Standing around will not end the challenge, it will continue until he reaches the finish line. So he has to move forward against the incoming projectiles and weather through the storm of attacks. Sometimes he would be pushed back and sometimes he would miss some of them which will cause him pain when they strike his body. He had to maintain a steady approach and keep his movements balanced.
It worked for a while but the difficulty ramped up again so he had to change his style. He now has to use his entire body to dodge as many as he can dodge and only parry the ones he can’t dodge, not everything. His mind and his body became tasked with the effort. Unlike the dodging challenge, there is no path of safety here, he had to hit some to create a path.
The path was also narrow, so he didn’t have much room for maneuvering. Which made dodging much more difficult and parrying more relevant. Dodging could only ease the problem, it couldn’t solve it. That means his parrying skill must be upgraded or he won’t be able to keep up with the increasing difficulty.